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Ohio Sues Over Missing Electronic Votes

Posted by timothy on from the oh-it-was-only-a-few-votes dept.

dstates writes "The Columbus Post Dispatch reports that the State of Ohio is suing Premier Election Systems (previously known as Diebold) over malfunctions in electronic voting machines. Election workers found that votes were 'dropped' in at least 11 counties when memory cards were uploaded to computer servers. The same voting machines are used nationwide. The company blames a conflict between their software and antivirus software for the problem and says that an advisory was issued on the subject. The Ohio lawsuit contends that the company made false representations and failed to live up to contractual obligations and seeks punitive damages."

6 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Punitive Damages by ExileOnHoth · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If these machines affected the outcome of the election, perhaps it is the American people (and the people of Iraq) who should be seeking punitive damages from Diebold.

    1. Re:Punitive Damages by tthomas48 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I agree that the issue of blackbox voting machines should not be made into a partisan issue. On the other hand the issue of Diebold voting machines being a partisan issue was cemented when the CEO of Diebold said in a fundraising letter that he was committed to delvering Ohio for President Bush. It may have been the most ridiculously stupid comment ever, but it definitely had the effect of making the issue partisan.

  2. Re:Antivirus software by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As someone who has had a couple of contracts working with Diebold, it wasn't only Windows, but Windows, VB6, and an Access database. I wish I were joking.

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  3. Maybe this is just stating the obvious... by neokushan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But shouldn't there be a law against tampering with elections? Like....a really really really serious, potentially company-destroying law?
    The kind of law that would have fines and penalties so great, diebold is sent to the brink of bankruptcy and it's CEO's are all incarcerated?
    Maybe that's a little extreme sounding to some, but when you consider that the very foundations your country was built on are at stake, you have to take a tough stand.
    I certainly don't agree with the death penalty or anything like that, but I do think this should be a matter of the utmost importance.

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    +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
  4. Re:End to End by TeacherOfHeroes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    We use this exact pen and paper system in Canada, and TV stations are usually able to make a pretty good prediction by midnight as to who will win. The next morning, the newspaper headlines almost always confirm what the tv stations were predicting the night before.

  5. Re:Punitive damages.. by AK+Marc · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you assign punitive damages to a vote, aren't you then assigning a value to said vote?

    No. If you assign actual damages, then you are placing a value on the vote. Punitive damages are just that, punishment, regardless of the value of the loss.

    Since it's illegal to sell your vote to begin with, what good is it to assign a value to something you cannot sell in the first place.

    I can't sell my life (either to someone that would want to kill me for sport, or for slavery). Yet the government has put a value on human life. It's a couple million dollars. So you can value something that can't be sold. Just because it's statutorially illegal to sell something doesn't mean it doesn't have value. Prostitution is sale of something that is illegal to sell (except in Nevada), yet people manage to agree on a price for that all the time.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska